The Selection: Bride Of The Dark Dragon

LARA

The hair was the reason why everyone hated me for as long as I could remember. The colour only brought trouble to me.

Angry tears were rolling down my cheeks as all I wanted was to cut it off and pretend that all this was a dream.

A prophecy… There was a prophecy that I would be the end of Demir! How could that be?! We were soulmates… And soulmates were supposed to complete each other, to make each other happy… So how could that be the truth?!

Dark flames appeared behind my back and I dropped the knife, the sound of it reaching the marble floors echoed through the room.

“Lara?” Demir looked at me questioningly, “Is everything all right? You were crying?!”

“I…”, words stuck in my throat. He had a hard day as it was and I didn’t want to upset him even more. “I am sorry,” I muttered, “It’s just… I was sad for Prim and Ryker… And for all those dead people…”

He came closer and pulled me into a tight hug, kissing the top of my head gently and stroking my hair with his fingers. I let myself mold into his hard body, to enjoy the sound of his beating heart so close to me and to inhale his wonderful scent of the mountain fresh air…

“You have a kind heart,” he said after a while and his breath tickled my cheek as he found my lips and placed a soft k**s on them, “It doesn’t always do you good. But that’s one of the reasons why I love you so much, Lara.”

I smiled sadly. My heart seemed to be the only thing that I could offer to him…

“Are there any news on who did this? Was it the reds just like everybody suspects?” I asked him to take my mind off things.

“Yes,” he nodded, “They were. We think that one of them infiltrated to the masquerade ball and placed the artifact on the room above the council to be activated during the next meeting.”

My b***d froze when I remembered the man in a ruby mask that invited me for a dance at the ball. He told me to get away… He…

“Demir,” I muttered with dry lips, “There was this guy at the masquerade that approached me…”

I told him everything that I could remember and as I went, his face was only becoming darker. Which only helped me to make sure that I was not imagining things here.

“That makes sense,” he said when I was done, “To make me jealous of you is the easiest way to distract me. To make me disappear from the ball and leave Primrose alone is the easiest way to keep her busy. And then Ryker’s eyes would be on her only… And that’s three top dragons out of the way.”

“Isn’t it a bit too far-fetched?” I asked him hopefully.

“Not if the person who did it knew us all,” Demir replied, “And unfortunately, red dragons have a person working for them who used to be one of my best friends.”

“Sean Sarn?!” my lips parted in shock when I remembered the man with the scars who tried to take me away back in the capital. I hated to admit it but everything made more sense now. And thinking about it now, I even realized that his mask was specially created to cover all those scars, to make him unrecognizable.

“Yeah,” Demir stood up and I saw his fists clench, “He knows us all too well. He knows the castle enough to do it. He knows how to work around the guards. He knows too much!”

“But,” I stuttered, “How did he recognize me? I was wearing a mask too and I even changed the dress that I was supposed to be wearing…”

“Good question, Lara,” the dragon king turned to me, “Where did you get that dress in the first place?”

“I,” I choked on my words, “At the Lady Solveig’s shop… The assistant was bringing the things that you brought for me and I asked her for help.”

“Excellent, Lara!” he came closer quickly and kissed me on the forehead, “I think you just helped me to c***k this case! I need to go now! See you later!”

Dark flames started to appear on his body when he turned to me and said, “Hope you like my present. You still didn’t say anything… It should lift your spirits.”

“Your present?” I looked at him as if I was in a daze.

“Yeah,” he chuckled, “It’s in your wardrobe room.”

The flames consumed him, and he disappeared, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Bitter tears were blinding my eyes again…

Helped him c***k the case?! More like I helped one of the traitors to walk freely inside of the palace! They used me to kill Demir! Almost successfully! And so many other people died…

Prim was right. She was right about everything! Everyone was right about me… It was as if I was truly cursed. Both sets of my parents died, my brother went mad… and now I was used to kill the man I love. While other people keep suffering around me.

My eyes fell to the knife again… But then I remembered Demir’s words about his present. Curiosity took the best of me and I found myself walking into the wardrobe room and seeing that my old wings were lying on one of the chairs. White and shiny, they reminded me of the past and more tears came with that.

I let myself a moment of weakness, as I fell to the floor next to them and started sobbing.

But when I was done, I knew the one thing that would be right for me.

So, I stood up and found a dark green hunting suit with a brown leather jacket that I knew was somewhere there. I put it on and then packed what I needed into a small leather bag. Pulled on high leather boots and chose some jewellery to take with me that would be easier to sell later.

When I was done, I came back to the mirror and took the knife. With a cold heart, I started to cut my hair short. Lock after lock, soft golden curls were landing on the floor. Until the remaining hair was hardly reaching my shoulders.

With a sigh, I put an illusion on and made it black. That was better.

I still looked too girly but that’s what hoods and scarves are for. And luckily, I packed those already.

I looked around, taking in the room that was full of love just a few hours ago. The room that I hated so much at first but now I was leaving it with a heavy heart.

Yet it was for the best.

I’d die anyway if something happened to him. But if I die somewhere there knowing that he was fine here, at least I’d die happy. Yes, everything was for the best.

I sat at the desk and got two lists of paper. Writing two letters, I felt like some weight was taken off my chest. At least I got to say my goodbyes.

I wanted to take something as a memory of Demir but there was nothing… He gave me everything yet at the same time I felt that I had no right to anything in here. That was probably also for the best. There was no place for me in his Empire as well. Just like there was no place for me at the White Archipelago…

Not letting myself think further, I stepped onto the rails of my balcony. Luckily for me, it was already too dark, and no one seemed to notice a pair of white wings in the night sky…